More thoughts on the iPad

With many tech blogs and news sites posting endless stream of anything iPad, I want to put my own 2 cents too. 😛

I’ve been thinking about how would I use the iPad. Usually one would buy something for a purpose. Apple is obviously hoping people would try to find a purpose to justify the iPad purchase.

1. An portable internet device for the home. Ever been wanting to view some websites while you’re taking a dump, while watching TV, or while lying on your bed? I’ve been doing it with my iPod Touch/iPhone, but obviously having a device with a larger screen like the iPad would make the experience better. The larger screen is also better to view videos. A netbook is a hassle due to their form factor. The issue with the iPad is how I would get my content on it. Currently, it seems that you have to sync the iPad with iTunes, just like iPods. Well, considering the small storage space on the iPad, this is an issue. Plus I don’t want to have all my videos in iTunes. I already have a Windows Home Server for all my videos. Apple should put the ability to stream content from a networked drive to the iPad. Alas, I don’t think it would be able to do that. Plus for the price, I’ll stick with my iPhone.

2. A camera companion on the go. Let’s say you’re traveling, and want to take tons of pictures while being able to view/back them up. Currently, a cheap solution is to bring a netbook with you. Most netbooks come with an SD slot where you can dump all your pictures to. The iPad with the SD card dongle might be a more portable solution. Problem is, again, the limited storage of the iPad (if you already fill it up with your music/videos, etc). Plus, the photos app is just a basic viewing app. I’m sure there will be many photo editing tools coming to the app store (already plenty for the iPhone), but it would be more seamless if Apple put iPhoto on the iPad.

3. As a backup internet device. As much as I like Comcast, it doesn’t have 100% uptime, and when it’s down, it’s really frustrating being offline. The iPad with 3G plus its prepaid wireless data plans seem to be a nice and cheaper way to have for a backup internet, vs paying $60 a month continuously for 3G data with a USB dongle. The dilemma is, I already have the iPhone (and I’m sure it’s the case for most people that are interested in the iPad). Now if only AT&T allow tethering on the iPhone, even with an additional fee, it will still be cheaper than spending money for the iPad. Alas, AT&T sux, and there’s no hint whether they would allow iPhone tethering in the US, ever. The iPad seems to be an expensive way to solve a simple problem.

So, yeah, it’s hard trying to find a use for the iPad. Now I’m sure once it’s released, there will be apps that change the way we think about it, but at this time, the iPad seems to have a lot of potential, yet at the same time feels too limited.

I’m curious that Apple might release the iPad simply as a training wheel for their future products, for people to get used to having multi-touch on a larger screen. I would imagine future iMacs and/or Macbooks would employ a multi-touch screen. Even better, imagine an iMac/Macbook that has an A4 equipped with iPhone OS built-in for instant-on usage, in addition to the traditional OS X and intel processor. Want to listen to music/check email quickly on your Macbook, instant-on to the iPhone OS. Want to do more stuff like picture/video editing, simply boot up to OS X. Yeah, that would be awesome! Hey, I just did a rumor for upcoming Apple products! I’m guessing Apple will see how successful (and probably how small/cool they can make the A4) the iPad is, and implement it to the iMac/Macbook in a couple of years.

 

New slew of Apple products

Yesterday, Apple updated a slew of their products as rumored. Here’s my quick take on them:

1. iMac: The most noticeable difference is the 16×9 aspect ratio of the screen, compared to 16×10 on previous iMacs. That changes the size, with the small one being 21.5″ and the big one being 27″.
Things I like (that makes me want one):
-Aluminum back instead of plastic
-1080p resolution on the 21.5″
-SD card slot
-Support for Apple earbud with mic
-Option of discreet GPU for the 21.5″ (previously, the small iMac only have integrated GPU)
-The 27″ model supports video-in, so it can be used as an external monitor
-Wireless keyboard and the new magic mouse are standard.

Things that I don’t like:
-The option for the new intel Core i5/i7 processor are only available on the 27″ model. This is highly annoying. Not everyone want the giant 27″ iMac, nor have the desktop space for it. Heck, my TV is only 25″. This kind of upselling is typical of Apple.
-Previously, iMacs have been using notebook processors due to the design and thermal concern. Now is the first time Apple is using desktop processor (according to blogs like engadget) on the iMac. Who knows what kind of problems might come up (typical Rev A issues).

A nice update, but I wish Apple push in the Core i5/i7 processor across the board.

2. Mac mini. Just a minor spec bump from the previous mini. Alas, no price drop, and the value of the mini remains questionable. What is interesting is that now Apple is selling a Mac mini server, a mini without an optical drive, but with an additional hard-drive in it. This sounds like a great idea and I would love to get one, except that Apple is selling it for a whopping $999. Why? Because they bundle in Snow Leopard server OS with it. Again, the typical upselling. 😦

3. Macbook. The white plastic Macbook got a makeover.
Things I like:
-Lighter and more sturdy construction
-Glass trackpad
-7 hours of battery life
-Support for Apple headset with mic

Things that I don’t like:
-Firewire is gone. 😦
-No price drop on the price point
-No option for SSD. This wouldn’t be a problem in the past as it was pretty easy to upgrade the Macbook’s hard-drive, but now with the sealed battery, it’s much harder to open the thing up just to upgrade the hard-drive. Boo! Hard-drives are the most likely component to fail, and making it not easily user accessible is highly annoying.

No that impressive. Imo, loosing Firewire makes this Macbook more like a downgrade. Expect more demand on the refurbished older Macbooks (grab one if you must have Firewire).

4. Magic Mouse. With the recent news that Apple lost the “Mighty Mouse” name, the name change is highly expected. Finally, another Steve Jobs’ obsession coming to fruition, a mouse with no buttons. LOL. Instead of a scroll ball, the surface is multi-touch capable. It’s natural to do scrolling on this, but multiple fingers gestures are pretty awkward. It is standard on iMacs, and seems to have better battery life. Oh well, at least you don’t have to clean the stupid ball on the old Mighty Mouse anymore.

Other updates include the new remote, and updated Airport Extreme (thus Time Capsule). Not too exciting. Another typical Apple update, with plenty things to love and hate.

 

First Impression of the Genius Bar

So, if you’re following my twitter, you know that my iMac’s hard-drive is dead, and it’s actually an opportunity to experience of going to the Genius bar at a local Apple store. Couple points that I would like to make:
1. Make a reservation online. Don’t think that you can just walk into an Apple store and get help right away, especially for tech support. While I was waiting for my turn, I saw a couple of people being told to make a reservation for another day.

2. Do your homework. Just like any tech support situation, things can go faster/smoother if you do your homework. In my case, I already did my own diagnostics to confirm that the hard-drive in my iMac is truly dead. At the genius bar, the genius tried to do his own diagnostic by booting from his external hard-drive, which didn’t work anyway. If I didn’t tell him what I did, we would probably have spent more time trying to diagnose the problem. Also, write down your Mac’s serial number and/or Apple care number. It would help the genius since Apple put the serial number of the iMac on the bottom of the stand(!).

3. Speaking of time, just because you have a reservation, don’t expect that you’ll be helped right at the appointed time. It seems that there are only a few geniuses in the store, and depending on how long they are working on each customer’s case, things could be pretty backed up. I had to wait for a bit over my appointed time because the genius wasn’t done with the customer in front of me.

4. Waiting can be awkward in an Apple store (I assume it depends on the store). The one I went into doesn’t really have a set “counter/line” like a traditional B&M store (except for the line for the iPhone 3GS). When I arrived, naturally I went to the genius bar. Then one of the guys said to check in on the counter, which is just a small table in the middle with 2 iMacs and a girl with orange T-shirt. Good thing one of the guys obviously saw I was confused, asked my for my name, and quickly went to one the iMacs on that table and “checked” me in. Then It’s a waiting time. There was not a set “waiting” area. I was standing like a doofus, then I just sit down on an empty chair near the “bar.” I’m guessing Apple wants to make the experience more casual, but at the same time it could be confusing without proper signs/directions.

5. Somebody need to clarify/make a guide for the color-coded T-shirts of the Apple store employees. There are employees in cyan, orange, and dark-blue T-shirts. At first I thought the cyan are the geniuses, but I think they’re sales. Orange is probably concierge? The gal that is checking people in wears orange T-shirt. The geniuses are in dark-blue.

One big point that I want to make, is how GLAD I am that I bought Apple care (Apple’s extended warranty) for my iMac. I bought my iMac in May 2008. Guess what, the hard-drive failed on June 2009, 1 month after the default warranty would’ve ended. Without Apple care, it would’be been $100 just for the diagnostic. Now, if this is a regular tower PC, I wouldn’t worry about extended warranties. In fact, I replace broken hard-drives pretty often on my other PCs. They’re regular PCs so it’s easy to just buy a hard-drive, open up the case, and replace it. However on the iMac, it’s a different story. I looked at tech websites, and to get to the hard-drive in an iMac, you would have to dismantle the whole thing, remove the glass display AND the LCD. That’s too hardcore for me.

Another great thing about Apple is the presence of the Apple stores. If it’s an HP/Dell PC, and it needs something fixed that I couldn’t do myself, I would’ve to call a tech support in India, setup a shipment, ship the computer, wait for days/weeks (excluding ship time), etc etc. Or, HP/Dell would send a spare part and I would’ve to do the repairing myself. Or go to Bestbuy’s Geek squad and spent a fortune. Compare that to setting up an appointment with the Genius online, coming in on a weekend to a local store, and being told that things will be fixed in a couple days. It’s definitely a much better experience. The only downside is if there are no Apple stores around your area.

So, there you go, my first experience with Apple’s Genius bar. We’ll see how long it would take for Apple to fix my iMac. The genius said it’s a day or two. Hopefully my iMac is well taken care of.

Note to self: consider SSD when buying a new computer.

 

iMac acting up

I freaked out a little a few hours ago because my iMac hanged. After forcing it to turn off and rebooted, for whatever reason it didn’t recognize its own bluetooth transmitter (no bluetooth detected in system profiler). I thought crap, the BT transmitter is dead or something. I searched google, and found out about users resetting their SMC. Apple has this document: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1543 I followed the instruction and my iMac is back to normal. Phew. I was afraid I had to restore a time machine backup, or worse, hardware failure.

 

Aluminum Penryn iMac

Just arrived.

Unpacking.

Setting up is fairly quick. There is only 1 cable in the box, the AC cable. 🙂

The 20″ looks small in stores, especially when compared to the 24″. However, it’s pretty big on my desk.

First sweet impression is the smooth aluminum. Apple does know how to design this beauty. The aluminum and black frame + black Apple logo really makes the iMac look professional.

When I turned it on, I found the glossy screen to be very bright, too bright for my taste. All my previous desktop LCD monitors are not glossy. I ended up reducing the brightness to the lowest level. Yup, the lowest level, and it is still pretty bright. The glossy LCD doesn’t seem to have a very wide viewing angle.

One annoying thing I find is the lack of USB ports. Most recent PC desktops have at least 4+ USB ports on the back and one or two USB ports on the front. The iMac only have 3 USB ports on the back (one which is automatically used for the keyboard, leaving only 2 free left). The wired keyboard has 2 USB ports on its side, but the location prevents anything other than a USB cable or those super tiny USB key to be connected to them. I find this to be annoying. Jobs compared the iMac with a cable cluttered Dell PC during the aluminum iMac announcement. Well, the cable clutter is still here, considering the iMac is non-expandable. Adding storage means external drives, which means extra cables and AC adaptors. A USB hub is definitely a must, especially if you have many USB devices like iPods and digicams, thus more cable clutter. Then there’s the ethernet and audio cable. The location of the USB ports on the back is not really convenient. I hope the next iMac revision will have more USB ports, preferably on the iMac’s sides, and maybe add an SD card slot too.

Transferring my stuff from my Macbook is pretty easy. For calendar, email, and address book, I simply used my trial of .Mac sync. For my iTunes music, I simply copy the iTunes folder from my Macbook to an external drive, and then to the iMac. I use the same username so everything came out as if nothing has happened. Same thing with iPhoto. iPhoto 08 simply convert my iPhoto 06 library into a single file. Setting Time Machine cannot be easier. I use a Firewire external hard-drive. First run takes quite a while since Time Machine is copying the whole hard drive.

Setting up the iMac is not as quick as Jobs advertised (5 to 10 minutes), more like at least 15 to 30 minutes, including downloading and installing all the latest patches, setting up the firewall and other preferences, etc. At least Apple didn’t pre-install the Office and iWorks trial software anymore. Still better than a store bought windows PC where you will waste time uninstalling crap and installing firewall, anti-virus, anti spyware software, etc. The cable clutter is not going away, unless you’re going wireless with bluetooth and wifi.

The move to Penryn really makes the new iMacs cooler. I use a widget called iStat nano to monitor various temperatures on the iMac, and it never gets as hot as my Mac mini, and is definitely way cooler than my Macbook. Of course, comparing a desktop with a notebook is not really fair, but my Merom based Macbook can reach high temperatures fairly quickly under normal use.

A lot of people that only use Windows always complain about Macs being too expensive. If you compare spec per spec, Macs are priced quite competitively, considering all Macs come with wifi, bluetooth, Firewire, and gigabit ethernet, things that are not usually found on a typical windows PC. However, the difference is that you cannot configure Macs to be cheaper than what Apple already set for the baseline config. If you configure a Dell, you can configure it to cost as low as couple hundred dollars to as high as couple thousand of dollars, even on the same model. Not with Macs, you can only go up, not down. For example, you cannot configure the 20″ iMac to be cheaper than $1199. Also, certain configs can only be obtained on the next more expensive model. For example, you cannot get the 20″ iMac with the new GeForce 8800GS video card. For that, you have to spend more getting the 24″. If you’re looking for the cheapest barebone computer, or a computer that you want to expand later (without spending a lot of dough on Mac Pros), Macs are not the choice. However, if you are willing to spend enough to get a complete PC, Macs are definitely something to look at. The OS experience is just better than Windows.

 

New iMacs

Well, as expected from the store being down last night, Apple refreshed the iMac lineup. So what’s new? A lot of people in forums are scrutinizing the specs, and almost everybody is quite amazed. Why? The specs of the new iMac leads to Intel’s upcoming montevina chipset/platform. So what’s the big deal? Well, Intel has not released it yet. Montevina is supposed to come out officially around June. I guess Apple is intel’s special partner deeply in bed. 🙂

Not only that, almost all the Penryn processors that the new iMac use are not out yet either. The only one that is officially out is the 3.06GHz, which is Core 2 Extreme X9100. The 2.4GHz is supposedly Core 2 Duo SP9400, and the 2.8GHz is Core 2 Duo T9600, both are not supposed to be out till May 08. I couldn’t find any reference for the 2.66GHz chip in wikipedia, so Intel has not even announced that one.

So here we go again, Apple getting chips early from Intel. Awesome! Other than that, 2GB RAM becomes standard except for the cheapest model (C’mon Apple, what’s wrong with making 2GB standard on everything?). The highest end 24″ model gets nVidia Geforce 8800GS. Not too shabby, but the other models are still stuck with ATI’s 2xxx GPUs, not even upgraded to ATI’s 3xxx lineup.

Other disappointment, no quad core. I know that iMacs use mobile CPUs, but still I want my quad-core, considering many windows desktops are now quad-core and they’re cheap. Intel’s mobile quad-core chip is supposed to come out in September 08.

I guess the Mac mini is the step child now, still holding a combo drive. No refresh for the mini. I’m tempted for the 3.06GHz iMac, but I don’t think I have the desktop space for a 24″. 😦

 

Impulse buy, or not.

Yeah, I’m still talking about the stuff announced at Macworld. Steve Jobs was so good in presenting Apple’s new products that it makes you to want them just based on impulse. However, good thing is the Time Capsule and Macbook Air are on pre-order status, allowing me to cool down and reevaluate.

1. Time Capsule
As I said, I already have an HP Windows Home Server. 1 person at a Mac forum pointed out that the Time Capsule has no redundancy. He/she is right. Sure, Jobs said it has a server-grade hard-drive, but it’s still a hard-drive. I also don’t see a way to replace/upgrade the hard-drive form the Airport Extreme enclosure. On the other hand, my HP WHS has 3 empty slot to add hard-drives, and it has redundancy if there is more than 1 hard-drive. Another poster pointed out this app called iTimeMachine, which allows Time Machine to use a network disk as a backup disk without having to use the Time Capsule.

2. Macbook Air
Yeah, it looks awesome. However, let’s reevaluate the drawbacks that are not mentioned by Steve Jobs.
-Battery is not user replaceable. Yup, show me other laptops that has non-user-replaceable battery. None. This is a big issue if you want to keep the notebook for a while, or if there is a problem/recall on the battery. The Sony TZ has a removable battery that you can upgrade to achieve better battery life than the Macbook Air.
-No SD slot. I was expecting an SD slot. Jobs kept bashing the Sony TZ, but failed to mention that the TZ has a memory stick and SD slot. With Apple seems to focus on digital life, and the fact that most digicams/camcorders utilize SD card, this should be a no-brainer. The TZ has it, even the eeePC has it, but not a $3000 Macbook Air?

I wish the eeePC has more on-board storage. Wishing for cheaper SSD soon. Oh, and note for those that are interested in the Macbook Air. Currently based on the specs, it’s still using Merom Core 2 Duo processors. Intel is scheduled to release the small-form-factor low voltage Penryn in May 2008, so I expect a refresh by mid-year/before the end of this year.

Restraint will save your wallet. 🙂

Things that I want but not announced:
Where is my quad-core iMac? 😡 Today, I can configure a quad-core Dell XPS420 with 3GB of RAM sans monitor for less than $1000. Comparable iMacs only have dual-core and 1GB standard RAM. Well, I guess that’s because quad-core Penryn won’t be out till May 08.

Well, maybe WWDC 08, Penryn and quad-core iMacs, and Penryn Macbook Air.